The Bright Side
by Kristin Chenoweth Love
Summary: Mrs. Lovett always looks on the bright side of life. But can she still manage that when she gets knocked up by Sweeney Todd? Oooooh. Rated M just for the first Chapter, but nothing too terrible.
1. Chapter 1

It was that time of month again. The time when the bills were due, and Mrs. Lovett had to collect the rent from Mister Sweeney Todd, who resided in the room above hers. This was always a nervewracking time for her, because he had a subtle way of scaring her out of her wits. And although it was his job to keep up with the rent bills, she couldn't help but feel almost rude, asking for the money. It would have been much easier, of course, if he even went up to her with an envelope full of money, but because he never remembered, it was always up to her to constantly remind him when the rent was due.

Mrs. Lovett fidgeted, playing with her fingers as she stood at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the barber's dark, mysterious room. It was just her being too polite; this was in no way rude to ask him, was it? She had even let him slide a few times too many, and although they had quite a lot of money coming in nowadays, the rent was still too large for her to pay for herself. She took a deep breath and began walking up the stairs, her heart pounding quicker and harder with each step. She stopped outside the door and raised her hand to knock on the door, then paused to smooth out her skirts. She ran her tongue along the bottom of her lip, which had become strangely dry, and knocked on the door again, crossing her arms over her chest.

After a few moments of waiting, she peeked in through the window and saw Sweeney sitting in his chair, a picture of his darling Lucy and Johanna in his hands. She knocked again, a little louder, but still no movement, or any sign of acknowledgement. She sighed and opened the door with the key she had brought up with her, letting herself in.

"Mornin' Mista' Todd," she greeted him cheerfully, giving him a smile. Nothing in return, of course, as always expected. She pressed her lips together and looked down at the floor, twisting her fingers together awkwardly.

"Yes, Mrs. Lovett?" He slowly dropped the picture and looked up at her, already impatient.

Mrs. Lovett cleared her throat, finding that when she tried to speak, her voice became rather high in pitch. "Well, it's jus' that, uhm..." She cleared her throat again, and tried to force a small smile. "Well it's the first of the month, ye see, an'...well... well, the rent is due." She nodded, as if agreeing with herself.

He looked up, rather amused at her stuttering, and for the first time, a small smirk spread over his dark lips. Mrs. Lovett had never seen such a sight, and became almost startled. "You alright, love?"

He stood up and walked towards her, gripping her upper arms in his hands tightly, and smiling again when all color, if any, fled from her skin. He walked her backwards until she was pinned up against the wall, and her body hit it with a loud thud. "The rent, is that what you want, Mrs. Lovett?"

Mrs. Lovett opened her mouth to say something, but was too afraid. She nodded instead, licking her lips. "Yes Mista' T, but take ye time gettin' that money t' me. No rush at all."

Sweeney smiled that sick, twisted grin at her, and she wondered if that was the same look that his unfortunate customers got right before the blade was swung at them. Mrs. Lovett tried to walk towards the door, but his hands held her in place. She was almost positive he was going to whip out his razors and threaten to kill her with them, as he did almost everyday, but much to her surprise, he did something most unexpected. His large hands traveled down to her small waist and he pulled her towards him in a forceful jerk, and smashed his lips against hers in a painful, yet pleasurable kiss. Her dark eyes widened but she soon relaxed, and they slowly started to close as she returned the kiss.

Using his own lips to seperate hers, Sweeney slipped his tongue into her mouth and she moaned at the taste of him. She clung onto him desperately, almost afraid to let him go, and his hands went down her waist where he began to pull her skirt up, much to her surprise. She didn't disobey, of course, and even held up the skirts for him as he pulled her undergarments out of the way. He looked down and began to unbuckle his belt, and she felt a heated wetness between her legs. He undid his pants and set himself free, lifting her up and against the wall, as she wrapped her legs around him.

Sweeney plunged into her without even looking at her to see if she was ready, and she let out a yelp of surprise, and then a moan of delight. There was no hesitation in his movements at all, that was for sure, and he didn't hold himself back. Mrs. Lovett obviously didn't mind this and she thrusted her hips out, trying to keep up with his quick, vigorous movements. This went on for quite some time, and just as Sweeney felt like she was hitting her climax, he thrusted her hard once more, and allowed her to release herself. She arched her back and let out a final moan, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath.

He held her tightly and she rested her forehead against him, her hand gently caressing his cheek. For a second, maybe even a minute, she could have fooled herself into thinking that he had finally gotten over Lucy and was beginning to move on, but then the sick, twisted grin from before returned. She looked into his eyes, a bit taken aback, and he gently brought her feet down onto the ground. She swayed a bit, still a little unsteady.

"That should cover it," he said, as he opened the door for her. She watched him, too stunned to say anything, before he gave her a shove out the door and slammed it in her face. Her lips were parted slightly and she didn't know what to say or do. She should have been hurt, but strangely enough, she felt somewhat satisfied. Yes, it was just a scheme to get her to pay the rent for him, but he enjoyed himself, she knew it. Those loud moans and the way he kept going until they both reached their climax were not faked at all. A simple kiss would have done it anyway, he didn't have to go as far as to make love to her.

Although it wasn't the way she had wanted it, Mrs. Lovett always looked on the bright side, and perhaps this was just the start. Making love first, then actually falling in love. She picked her skirts up off the ground and began to walk down the stairs, before the sound of the door opening made her turn around.

"Mrs. Lovett." Sweeney said to her. She nodded in response. "If you could be so kind-"

"Yes, dear?" She asked, walking over towards the doorway where he stood. He turned around and bent over, picking something up off the ground. When he returned to her, he was holding a basket of laundry.

"I'd be very grateful, my pet," he told her as he pushed it into her arms, and then closed the door. She stood there, motionless for a second, and once again, picked up her skirts with one hand and held the basket with the other, as she made her way down the stairs. Yes, the bright side of life was always the better side. Sweeney Todd wouldn't trust anyone with his laundry except the one that he secretly loved, right? She held her head up high, because she hadn't lost _all_ her dignity, or her hope, just quite yet.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, business was unusually slow, which gave Mrs. Lovett a day to catch up on some rest. She sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace and watched the logs burn, her eyes growing heavy, but not shutting. The door that seperated her room and the pie shop was open, incase a customer were to wander in. Although she was quite exhausted by the end of the night, Mrs. Lovett indeed enjoyed owning her own pie shop. Everyone knew her, because all of London praised her fabulous meat pies. As she rested and watched the fire, she wondered if perhaps she should start adding to the menu. Maybe throw in some apple pies, or blueberry, or cherry; she had always been quite fond of them. She also wasn't terrible at making bacon and eggs, perhaps she could start a breakfast menu for the earlybird customers.

As she thought back to the exciting adventures she'd had before, a small smile crept upon her lips. She had done many things just to get a few tips from people. Nothing horrible, of course, but people did ask her to do quite some ridiculous things. She once performed an entire tap dance for a group of rich business men, and recieved five pennies in return. And for two pennies, she was once asked to juggle a few apples, but only succeeded in keeping them up for five seconds, before dropping them on her shoes. She drew the line, however, when men asked for kisses, or a glimpse at her tight bosom that men just loved to watch.

_Men, _she thought to herself with a slight roll of her eyes. They only want one thing.

As Mrs. Lovett thought about what had happened last night, she suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, like something had been planted down there and was starting to grow upwards, towards her throat. She sat up and held her stomach, feeling a bit dizzy. Her breathing began to increase and she stood up, knowing what was going to happen next. She tried to get to the bathroom as quick as she could but couldn't hold it back any longer. Her stomach twisted violently and she bent over, vomiting the little food that she had had in the morning. She felt tears rise in her eyes and her abdomen muscles worked hard and painfully, and she vomited again, feeling her upper body shaking uncontrollably. She whimpered and held her stomach painfully, waiting until she was finally finished.

When there was nothing left in her stomach to throw up, she looked down in disgust, realizing she would have to do some more cleaning later. She leaned backwards somewhat dazed, and held her forehead. What happened? Mrs. Lovett was an extremely healthy woman, and hadn't vomited that badly in years. In her head, she quickly went over what she had eaten over the past week. Everything she had eaten she had cooked herself, and she had been eating her own food for years. It might have been a bug that was going around, but she felt fine.

She tried to shrug it off and as she cleaned the floor, she decided she would pretend it had never happened.

"Mum! There's a man 'ere, I believe 'e's a customer!" The too familiar high pitched voice of the young boy Mrs. Lovett loved so dearly, was heard outside the bathroom door. Mrs. Lovett turned towards the door and opened it a crack, peaking her head out, only to see him standing right outside of it.

"Wha's 'appened mum?" The growing concern in the poor boy's voice melted her heart. Never being blessed with children of her own, Toby was a joy to have around, especially after four painful miscarriages with her late husband, Albert. Although he wasn't technically hers, she considered herself his mother, and that was good enough for her.

"Nothin's the matter, dearie," she reassured him, giving him her cheerful, motherly smile she was known for. "I'll be out in a minute. Ask the gentleman wot 'e wants. There's a few pies already made in the-" Mrs. Lovett put her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes, feeling another wave of nausea overtake her. The mention of food wasn't that lovely right about now.

"...Mum?" He asked, trying to open the door more.

She put her hand up and kept the door only slightly open, and opened her eyes, forcing a smile. "In the oven. You're a big boy now, arentcha? Go an' serve him yeself, try t' see 'ow much you can get in tips." Toby hesitated, and she gave him an encouraging push. "Go on now, nuthin' t' be afraid of. You've seen me do it plenty of times."

Much to her relief, Toby ran off, and she heard him taking orders to the man. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth, and she was eventually able to clean again. Once she was finished, she checked her reflection in the mirror and walked outside, where Sweeney was standing. She gasped, trying to hide how much he had scared her, but failed.

"Oh... Mista' Todd. Didn't see ye there." He didn't say anything, but eyed her suspiciously. She didn't want him to know what had just happened, and silently dismissed herself, and went out into the pie shop, where Toby was counting pennies. Sweeney followed her.

"Look mum! That nice man gave me four pennies!" He smiled proudly and took two, sliding the other half over towards her. "I'll split it with you, mum. You can go out an' get a new pre'ty dress."

Mrs. Lovett smiled and slid the pennies back over to him. "Don't be silly love, I told ye-anything you can make on ye own, you can keep." She winked at him and went over to one of the tables and began cleaning up the plates the man had left behind. Sweeney went up behind her and lowered himself so he could speak quietly in her ear.

"You look strange today, Mrs. Lovett," he said, making her jump. She continued to clean plates and said nothing. "What's gotten into you?"

Mrs. Lovett turned to look at him, holding the dirty dishes in her hands. "Nothin' of any importance, Mista' T," she said softly, her eyes falling away from his. "Now if you'll excuse me." She gave him a nod and walked away, feeling his burning eyes on the back of her head the entire time.

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**A/N:** Hey all. Hope you're enjoying. One quick note--never being pregnant myself, I'm not quite sure of how long it takes until morning sickness kicks in, but I'm pretty positive that it takes more than the next morning. However, I didn't think about that when I started writing this, so if you can please, just work with me? It's really not very essential to the storyline anyway. 

Ahem. Moving on to the next chapter! xD


	3. Chapter 3

She knew.

She didn't know exactly how, but she knew. It was common sense, really. The unprotected sex, the strange nausea that only came during the mornings, and the fact that she was supposed to have gotten her period over a week ago.

Mrs. Lovett was pregnant.

She sat on the sofa in her living room with her legs curled up to her chest, tears brimming in her eyes as she thought of what she was going to do. If it wasn't for the certain circumstances she was living under, she would be more than thrilled to realize she was pregnant, but there was so much wrong with this situation. Becoming impregnated out of wedlock, to a man who kills men for a living, and whose best friends are seven pieces of sharp metal. What would the neighbors think?

Mrs. Lovett paused momentarily, and thought about that last question, and the dread quickly left her. The neighbors already thought she was odd, this wouldn't hurt their opinions on her much more.

Also, after having four miscarriages that left her in a sharp state of depression for weeks on end, she promised herself she wouldn't bare with the pain again. Yes, the four failed attempts were all from the same man, but just because this father was a different man, didn't mean the baby was going to live. She didn't want to get her hopes up and have them immediately crushed down on her once she went into labor when she was only four or five months pregnant. The pain was just too much to bare. She was also getting older now, if she wasn't able to give birth to a healthy baby in her twenties, what were the chances that she would be able to in her late thirties, early fourties?

And finally, the last problem-what was Sweeney going to say? Mrs. Lovett felt butterflies in her stomach as she thought of this. He was obviously the father, no man had shared such violent intercourse with her in years. He would be angry, no doubt, and might even lash out on her angrily. Thus killing the baby and leading her back to her first problem.

She put her hand on her stomach and sighed. There was nothing left to do but to pretend, as always, like nothing is wrong. Yes, after quite some months, it's going to be obvious that she's pregnant, but she'll try and hide it the best she can. Besides, naive little Toby would believe anything she'd say, and Sweeney didn't even notice when she'd dyed her hair.

Mrs. Lovett sighed and rubbed her stomach slowly.

It'll just be our little secret, she thought to herself, and began wondering what gender the baby would be. She would love him or her either way. For a girl, she was always fond of the names Madison, or Emily. And maybe for a boy-Skylar, or Peter.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the sofa, a tear escaping from her eyes. Yes, our little secret, she thought to herself again. _Please_ give me another chance. Please, _please_ live.

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**A/N:** Aww I love babies!  
Okey dokes, so that's all I got for now. Read and review when you can and let me know what you think. I wrote this on a weekend I was off, and since I'm in the middle of tech week for a show, it might be another two weeks or so before I can add on. BUT. I hope you all enjoyed this, and if you did, I'll probably end up adding another chapter soon. I'll try my best! 


	4. Chapter 4

"Toby! Three pies over t' that table over there, an' a tub of gin. 'Urry it up boy!"

Mrs. Lovett paraded on cheerfully through her days as always, as if nothing were ever wrong. And it was true-nothing technically was wrong. She was about three months pregnant, and although the morning sickness had yet to stop, there was still a very little change in her stomach size, so she still had plenty of time to come up with lies as to why she would begin to gain weight. One thing that _had_ changed though, was her appetite. She was a very small woman, and had always had a small appetite to go with it. She was very picky, and was never known to finish a whole plate of food. Lately though, a whole plate of food wasn't enough to keep her going.

"There's no more pies left in the oven, ma'am!" A high pitched voice caused Mrs. Lovett to turn around.

"What was that, darling?" She asked, realizing that she had been standing and thinking in silence for quite some time.

"I said there's no more pies left in the oven," Toby repeated. "An' there's a whole line of customers. An' a big fat man's out there too, 'e looks like 'e could a whole cow."

Mrs. Lovett peered out the window, where a whole line of people had formed outside the door. And, just like Toby had said--a portly, obese man was standing, looking impatient and rubbing his stomach every once in a while, as if to hush the loud growls coming from the inside of his large belly. She winced and turned around so her back was facing him. _That's what I'll look like in a few months._

"Ma'am?"

"Yes dearie, I'll 'ave a few pies sent up in a minute. Stall if you can. Sing a song, jus' mind ye manners an' make sure they don't get too impatient."

And with that, Mrs. Lovett left Toby with the crowd, with hope that they wouldn't turn into a vicious wild mob. She learned that hungry people could turn into monsters very quickly, so she was sure to be as quick as possible. She made her way down the stairs to the bakehouse, catching the old beggar woman staring at her out of the corner of her eyes. _Ooh, she best be gone by the time I'm up, _she thought to herself, her teeth gritting.

She unlocked and pushed open the heavy door and was greeted with the sickly smell of blood and murder. Her eyes nearly teared at the sour smell, and she gave herself a few seconds to adjust to the odor. Once she thought she was okay, she walked over to the side of the room where three dead men were piled awkwardly on top of each other.

"Well ain't that a pretty sight," she mumbled to herself, as she pulled the littlest man by the arm and began to drag him over to the meat grinder. She had to stop and straighten her back out; her bones weren't what they used to be, and pulling three male bodies across a room was quite some excercise for her. Before she began to skin the bodies, she made sure to check the men's pockets for money. She rolled her eyes when she pulled out a few pouches of coins.

"If ye gonna kill the men, at least take their money from 'em afterwards," she said outloud, to no one in particular, although there was a certain man her words were directed to. She shoved the pouches into her bosom and continued with the skinning of the men. However, she had to pause a few times to catch her breath and let the nausea pass. Mrs. Lovett had always had a strong stomach, but things had been changing drastically for her and her body lately.

As she walked over to the last man lying on the floor, the chute above opened, and a man was sent down from the second story, nearly hitting Mrs. Lovett. She let out a surprised squeal and jumped to the side, holding her heart as she looked over and saw the second man next to the first one, lying limp on the floor where she had just been standing merely seconds ago. She looked back up, and the last thing she saw was Sweeney Todd's dark eyes staring into hers before the door closed.

She looked down at the bodies disgusted, before she looked back up at the ceiling. "Mista' Todd!" she yelled to him, angrily.

From up above, Sweeney could hear the annoying voice of the woman below. He stepped on the pedal and allowed the door to open and the chair went back, however, no dead body had gone down this time. It was quite an odd change.

"A word, please." She looked awfully mad; her hands were on her hips and her nostrils were flaring.

"What is it, Mrs. Lovett?" He asked somewhat impatiently. "Many customers, little time."

"A bit o' a warning would be nice when sendin' down a man with 'is head half chopped off," she exclaimed, using wild hand gestures, something she did when she was angry. "Ye coulda 'it me!"

"Wouldn't that 'ave been nice," he mumbled to himself, and allowed the door to shut between them again.

Mrs. Lovett let a huff escape her pouty lips. _Some nerve that man has. _She sniffed and removed the money from the second man's clothes, and continued with what she had been doing before she was interrupted.

A little while later Mrs. Lovett came back up the stairs, carrying a tray of eight pies in each arm. One tray was made up of a lawyer and a dentist, the other was of a very fat shoe maker. She looked around for the old beggar woman, and sighed a sigh of relief when she realized she had left. She squinted her eyes and looked over at her pie shop where the chattering of people, mostly women, were heard. No beggar woman there--did she really leave without a challenge?

Toby came running up to her, and she gave him a warm smile, forgetting about everything else. "'Ere we are dear, 'ow're the customers holdin' up?"

Toby took the trays and struggled to balance them, seeing as they were almost as big as him. "Never seen such a hungry buncha people. This might not be enough, ma'm."

Mrs. Lovett took a deep breath in and nodded. "That's alright, guess that means I'll 'ave t' make more pies then." Her eyes wandered up to the barber, where he was leaning against the railing, eyeing his future victims. They made eye contact and he looked away, without any form of expression. She rolled her eyes. _Anti-social little nit._

* * *

It was rather late when Mrs. Lovett finally closed down the shop. It was getting too much for a pregnant woman to skin dead bodies, make them into pies, and then serve them all at once. After all the customers had left, Toby was left wiping down the tabletops, and Mrs. Lovett was putting the dirty dishes into the sink. She looked at the pile of plates and silverware with exhausted eyes, and ran her fingers through her messy hair. "I'll do 'em in the mornin'," she told herself, as she left the kitchen and went into the pie shop, where Toby was sweeping with one hand, and holding a glass of gin with the other.

Toby looked up and smiled at her, not knowing whether or not he would be in trouble for drinking on the job. She walked past him and ruffled his hair, as she made her way into her room. "Jus' make sure not t' clean with the gin an' drink the broom," she told him, before closing the door behind her.

It didn't take long for the feeling of faitgue to wash over her body. Her eyes felt heavier than they did before, and she nearly fell asleep as she began to untie the laces of her corset. She let out a small sigh as she slipped it off her torso, welcoming the relief of being able to breathe properly again. She slipped out of her gown and slipped on a small nightgown. It was rather small and perhaps even a bit suggestive, but no one was going to see her this late at night. After all, she was going to go straight to bed.

Mrs. Lovett turned to the side and took a good look at her figure in the mirror. Perhaps it was just her own paranoia, but she had to take a second glance at her once flat stomach. Yes, it wasn't much of a difference, only a small one if one was really looking, but she could see it. Her stomach wasn't quite popping out so much quite yet, but she could see that there was a very small bump. She pressed her lips together and rubbed her belly a little, unable to imagine what she would look like when she was seven or eight months pregnant.

She sighed and turned away from the mirror, climbing into her bed. She thought about her plan to hide her pregnancy from the world--would it really work? And if it did, what would she do with the baby once she had it? If it lived, of course. She very well couldn't give it up, not after all these years of trying to have a baby. Perhaps she would say that she found it abandoned in a dumpster, and would adopt it as her own. Just like she did with Toby.

_Yes, that's what I'll do then, _Mrs. Lovett thought to herself as she suppressed a yawn and laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling. _And for now, I best be tyin' those corsets extra tight._

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**A/N: **Um, hi. xD I know, I know. I'll say it for you:  
Jesus, woman! You are so slow at updating fics! You're a bum!

I know, I'm horrible. But it wasn't that big of a successful story, so it's not like I had a whole mob of people mad at me, lol. But anyway I hope you enjoyed that last chapter. I've been disgustingly busy with school and dance and musical theatre and everything that takes over my life. But... three day weekend! Maybe another chapter? Or maybe I'll just sleep and watch Sweeney Todd, who knows at this point?

I'm so bad at these multiple chapter stories because I have really little patience, which is why I always usually stick to one shots. If you look, I don't think I've ever finished a story with chapters. Ever. -o Not good! No but I'll finish this one, eventually. I promise, I really do. Watch haha-by next Christmas I'll have chapter five up. xD I'm such a ham.

Anyway I have a question--this story can definetely be lowered to a T rating, right? I have it for M, but it's not like I wrote a porno, right? Anyway if you think it's appropriate enough for a rated T story, let me know, but if it must stay to M, let me know. I just don't want people not reading my stories because they think it's inappropriate.

(Jesus, my author's note was bigger than my story itself! xD)

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